subs. (colloquial).—1. In pl. = liquid food: spec. weak tea: or ‘any thin beverage taken medicinally’ (GROSE): also SLIP-SLOP. As adj. = feeble, poor, weak; as verb. = to eat or drink greedily, TO MOP UP (q.v.): also TO SLOP (or SLAP) UP, or TO SLOP IT; SLOPPING-UP = a drinking bout; SLOP-FEEDER = a tea-spoon; SLOP-TUBS = tea-things; SLIP-SLOPPY = slushy, watery.
1515. De Generibus Ebriosorum, &c. [HODGKIN, Notes and Queries, 3 S. vii. 163. In this treatise occurs names of fancy drinks…. I select a few of the most presentable] SLIP-SLOP … Raise-head … Swell-nose.
1566. STILL, Gammer Gurton’s Needle [DODSLEY, Old Plays, iii. 193]. To SLOP UP milk.
1675. COTTON, Burlesque upon Burlesque: or, The Scoffer Scofft, 183.
| No, thou shalt feed, instead of these, | |
| Or your SLIP SLAP of curds and whey | |
| On Nectar and Ambrosia. |
1692. DRYDEN, Juvenal, vi. 772.
| But thou, whatever SLOPS she will have brought, | |
| Be thankful, and supply the deadly draught. |
1694. SIR R. L’ESTRANGE, Fables, 268. The Sick Husband here wanted for neither SLOPS nor Doctors.
1821. COMBE, Dr. Syntax, III. i. At length the coffee was announc’d … ‘And since the meagre SLIP-SLOP’S made, I think the call should be obeyed.’
c. 1832. EDGEWORTH, The Rose, Thistle and Shamrock, iii. 2. Does he expect tea can be keeping hot for him to the end of time. He’ll have nothing but SLOP-DASH.
1837. R. H. BARHAM, The Ingoldsby Legends, ‘A Lay of St. Romwold,’ II. 291.
| There was no taking refuge too then, as with us, | |
| On a SLIP-SLOPPY day, in a cab or a ’bus. |
1900. FLYNT, Tramping with Tramps, 271. Yonkers Slim was going to meet him in Washington with some money, and the bums intended to have a great ‘SLOPPIN’-UP.’
2. (nautical).—In pl. = ‘Wearing apparel and bedding used by seamen’ (GROSE). Hence ready-made clothing. SLOP-SELLER = a dealer in ready-made clothes (GROSE); SLOP-CHEST = a ship’s supply of clothes and bedding: usually doled out at cost price; SLOP-BOOK = the register of supplies; SLOP-WORK = (1) the cheapest: hence (2) any work poorly done; SLOPPY = ill-fitting. [Originally ‘an outer garment made of linen’ (WRIGHT)].
1530. PALSGRAVE, Langue Francoyse. Payre of SLOPPE HOSES, braiettes a marinier.
1555. EDEN, Works [ARBER], 327 [T. L. KINGTON-OLIPHANT, The New English, i. 535. We hear of mariner’s SLOPPES; this old word for vestes seems henceforth to have been restricted to seamen].
1772. BRIDGES, A Burlesque Translation of Homer, 205. One kept a SLOP-SHOP in Rag-fair.
1851–61. H. MAYHEW, London Labour and the London Poor, II. 47. It was good stuff and good make … that’s the reason why it always bangs a SLOP.
1882. Queen, 7 Oct. It must not be imagined that to be easy, dress must necessarily be SLOPPY.
1886. Daily News, 3 Dec. The harsh oppressive middleman, and the heartless indifferent SLOPSELLER have sat for their portraits again and again.
1887. The Fisheries and Fishery Industries of the United States, v. 2. 226. If a poor voyage has been made, or if the man has drawn on the ‘SLOP-CHEST’ during a voyage to such an extent as to ruin his credit, he becomes bankrupt ashore.
3. (common).—A tailor.
4. (back slang).—A policeman: a corruption of ‘esclop.’
1851–61. H. MAYHEW, London Labour and the London Poor, I. 27. I wish I’d been there to have had a shy at the ESLOPS.
c. 1870. Music Hall Song [A Dictionary of Slang, Jargon & Cant]. Never to take notice of vulgar nicknames, such at “SLOP,” “copper,” “rabbit-pie shifter,” “peeler.”
1886. G. R. SIMS, Ballads of Babylon (The Matron’s Story). I dragged you in here and saved you, and sent out a gal for the SLOPS.
1887. Fun, 9 Nov., 201. A vanishing point [is] the corner you bunks round when the SLOP’S after yer.
1899. R. WHITEING, No. 5 John Street, ix. She is Boadicea … a right-down ‘raughty gal,’ leading her alley to battle against the Roman ‘SLOPS.’
5. (Christ’s Hospital).—A term of contempt.
Verb. (colloquial).—1. To make a mess; to walk or work in the wet.
1888. D. C. MURRAY, The Weaker Vessel, xi. He came SLOPPING on behind me, with the peculiar sucking noise at each footstep which broken boots make on a wet and level pavement.
TO SLOP OVER, verb. phr. (colloquial).—To enter into with enthusiasm, and speak, write, or act like a fool; to put on SIDE (q.v.); to make a mistake.
1859. C. F. BROWNE (‘Artemus Ward’), Fourth of July Oration [Works (1899), 124]. The prevailin weakness of most public men is TO SLOP OVER!… They git filled up and SLOP. They Rush Things…. Washington never SLOPPED OVER.
1889. Harper’s Magazine, lxxviii. April, 818. One of his great distinctions was his moderation…. As Artemus Ward says, ‘he never SLOPPED OVER.’
